Owner of Rockport RV resorts fails to block foreclosure sales

ROCKLAND, Maine — The owner of two recreational vehicle resorts in Maine failed to stop their foreclosure sales last week.

An attorney for Megunticook RV Resort LLC and Camden Hills RV Resort LLC — both located in Rockport — filed a request March 20 in Knox County Superior Court for an emergency temporary restraining order to prevent the foreclosures on the campgrounds.

After Justice Jeffrey Hjelm denied the request on March 21, the resort owner filed an appeal March 22 to the Maine Supreme Judicial Court.

The owner argued in the high court appeal that the denial of the restraining order was inconsistent with another judge’s ruling in York County Superior Court that granted a restraining order on the foreclosure of Flaggs RV Resort in York Beach.

The Megunticook, Camden Hills and Flaggs resorts all were owned by Morgan Recreation Vacations of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., which bills itself as the country’s largest privately owned RV park corporation.

Despite the supreme court appeal being filed Friday, Rockport Assessor Kerry Leichtman said Tuesday that the public sales of the two Rockport resorts were held the same day. He added that the mortgage holder kept the properties when it did not receive what it considered to be a suitable price. He said the mortgage holder will now try to find someone to continue managing the two Rockport properties as resorts.

Morgan Recreation took out a $38 million loan from Countrywide Commercial Real Estate Finance Inc. in 2007. The three Maine properties were part of the collateral for that loan.

The resorts are well maintained and heavily promoted, and a number of reservations have been accepted for the upcoming season that begins May 15, according to court documents filed on behalf of Megunticook and Camden Hills RV LLC in efforts last week to block the sales.

Megunticook has 100 campsites on 130 acres off Route 1 in Rockport while Camden Hills has 64 campsites on 8 acres on Applewood Road west of Rockport Village.

The Countrywide loan was transferred several times and the mortgage is now held by a limited liability company from Delaware — MLCFC 2007-9 ACR Master SPE LLC.

Megunticook and Camden Hills RV Resorts LLC also argued that the mortgage holder was not marketing the sale sufficiently and was trying to become the sole bidder at the lowest price possible, expecting then to try to recover the difference from the former owners.

The three Maine properties were valued at $27 million but were being marketed online for $7 million, according to papers filed in court last week by Megunticook and Camden Hills LLC.

A telephone message left Monday morning with Morgan Recreation executives in New York was not returned.

Calls made this week to attorney Kevin Collins of Delaware, who is listed as representing the mortgage holder, also were not returned.